SL-Class

Mercedes SL Shooting Brake Concept

Words John Clark | July 07, 2013
Mercedes-Benz SL Shooting Brake concept dubbed the 2013 Coupetorino unveiled at Mercedes Design Center
Words John Clark July 07, 2013

Italian design house Studiotorino along with six students have unveiled their vision for a shooting brake variant of the Mercedes-Benz SL-Class dubbed the Coupetorino 2013. The Coupetorino 2013 is the successor to the Coupetorino 2008, a similar project that was developed in the same way with Istituto di Arte Applicata e Design (IAAD) and Mercedes-Benz Design Center.

The Coupetorino 2013 is a non-profit academic project at  IAAD, it began in September 2012 with six students (Bruno Arena, Michele Bavaro, Riccardo Luigi Cascone, Stefano Manini, Dario Pellegrino and Cristiano Zanot) and one objective, transform the new iconic Mercedes SL into an exclusive Coupe.

StudioTorino SL Shooting Brake

StudioTorino SL Shooting Brake

The project SL was envisioned as a one-off special edition or limited series model, the Coupetorino was a realistic work-study project for the students, who also had to integrate engineering feasibility and cost of production in their work. Mercedes’ Head of Advanced Design Steffen Koehl gave three lectures to the students and made himself available to the students for questions throughout the project via email.

SL Shooting Brake

StudioTorino SL Shooting Brake

The Coupetorino 2013 1/4 scale model was presented on May 27 at the Mercedes-Benz Design Center in Como, Italy and given excellent reviews. Whether or not it makes sense for Mercedes-Benz, a shooting brake version of the iconic SL, only time will tell.